


Too Good at Goodbyes

by Milyzia



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Tony Stark, I'm Sorry, M/M, Multi, Not A Fix-It, Not A Happy Ending, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Sexual Tension, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 04:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14324472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milyzia/pseuds/Milyzia
Summary: Looking up when the silence was stretched out longer than he thought it would, he notices Tony and his best friend in a weird staring game. Bucky had the killer smirk on, the one he had when he saw a dame he liked and planned on pouncing. Tony’s body was leaning back a little, in a clear invitation to come closer, like he knew what Bucky was thinking and encouraging him to look.





	Too Good at Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for this, I was gonna write a sequel to Kill for Lies, but then this happened and yeah. It turned angry.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it a little at least. :/

A glass of whiskey entered his prefrail vision, ice clinking along to the music almost drowned by the power of everyone’s voices. Slowly turning his head, he followed the arm holding it and his stomach lunched in recognition even before his blue eyes met deep brown.

  
The hand wiggled the glass a little, reminding him that he had left it hanging. Accepting it, he couldn’t deny the electricity that shot through him when their fingers brushed for a millisecond. Nodding in thanks he cradled the drink in both his hands and turned back towards the hall like Tony would disappear if he stared too long.

  
Tony’s eyes swept the charity ball in full swing, taking a step forward, in height and a little bit closer to Steve, and Steve felt his heartbeat pick up. Five years since the Accords, two since Thanos and he could still make Steve’s knee shake and heart beat double.  
Clearing his throat, Tony raised the tumbler and took a small sip and once again turned towards Steve. His eyes caught the reflecting light in the amber liquid making them look like shimmering pools of gold. Steve sucked in a breath and looked away again, not feeling worthy of the beauty before him, and he gripped the glass tighter.

 

“Careful.” His voice was like a full-on monsoon rain, full and so sure of its worth.

  
Steve felt his hands relax before he even registered the word and gave out a small chuckle under his breath. Looking up, he met Bucky’s eyes, head tilted in a question on the other side of the room. He nodded once and shifted, body angled slightly towards the man beside him. Tony looked at his chest, a calculating gaze slowly rising up.

  
Steve opened his mouth to say something, anything but nothing made sense in his head. A small insecure noise came out instead and he felt his cheek heat up with the blush he knew was slowly rising. Tony’s eyes registered what happened and a wicked gleam had replaced whatever was there before, Steve had forgotten. Tony’s tongue darted out to wet his lips and Steve’s eyes flickered down just in time to see the flash of pink disappear and the glistering trail it left in its wake. His breath caught and Tony’s lips transformed into a bitter grin, almost mocking.

  
“Are you enjoying yourself, _Steve_?”

  
Steve felt his body unintentional take a step forward, and Tony smirk deepened when he skilfully backed away, making the distance the same as before and rousing Steve from his laps of frenzy. In fright, Steve retook the step back and looked around him where he could place the glass and _leave_. But Tony’s hand on his arm stilled him and the other man’s face was back to his neutral professional mask and Steve felt a sting of loss somewhere deep inside him close to his heart.

  
“Sorry, Rogers, that was not …” He trailed off, busying himself with another sip, Steve looked away. Back to square one.

  
Steve felt his hands trembled and gave in to the drink in his hands, swallowing it in one go to still his nerves and kickstart his brain. Leaving it on a floating tray that a waiter carried past them, he picked up a glass of Champaign, ignoring the humour in Tony’s eyes and body language.

  
“I’m glad to see you better.”

  
Tony jumped when he after a few minutes of silence finally had something to say, and he could feel the man beside him shift.

  
“Yes, it was a journey but now I’m here.” Voice like a rich rumbling power tickling Steve’s inside. _Damn him._ “I didn’t know if you would make it.”

 

“Yeah, I… uh… Called Ms Potts, asked if I, eh, we could come.” He threw a glance at Tony’s profile while the other man nodded a short nod.  
“Mrs Potts now, actually.”

  
“Right, I saw.” He cleared his throat, “Tell her and Rhodey congratulations.”  
“It was long overdue. I’m happy for them.” And he sounded content with that, like when you realise you had two puzzle pieces and looked for their places on the board to finally find out they fit together.

  
“And you?” His voice was barely a decibel over a whisper, but Tony’s spine straightens and Steve’s heart stilled.

  
“You’re not entitled to know that.”

  
He turned around to leave and only Steve’s super serum reflex made him able to catch his wrist, stopping him in his step. Steve, the hand in a loose grip, found himself to have followed the step, placing him slightly to close to Tony’s back, face just above the back of the brown-haired man's head. His smell shot thought Steve like a memory and he had to stop himself from groaning. Tony most have heard his strangled grunt.

  
Posed like that for what felt like an eternity but most have been less than seconds, Tony bent his neck to the side, showing more skin where Steve know he was sensitive and his hands flew to grip the hip he knew like the back of his hand.  
That jolted Tony from the spell and the genius was gone before Steve registered what happened.

•••••

He fled to the roof, manhattans traffic like ants far down. The air was humid in the summer air, but a frisk breeze reached them from the water, making it bearable even in the suit. He felt the presence behind him rather than heard it, and he knows it was one of his two Russian trained teammates. It was confirmed when Bucky leaned against the reeling beside him, hair flowing in the wind.

  
“So that looked like a train wreck…” Steve snorted at his friend’s observation.

  
“You wanted to look away but you couldn’t?” The twisted smirk made Steve smile, his friend was the same but not, like an old childhood friend who took a different part in life, but when you both reconnected it was the same but different.

  
Bucky, with a laugh, bumped his shoulder towards Steve’s and Steve hid his face in his hands with a groan. Letting the soldier beside him sneak his arm around his shoulder and squeeze. Just relishing in his friends support they stayed quiet as the life of the city continued on around them.

  
Suddenly the door opened again, bringing the voices from the party with it out before separating the two worlds when it clicked shut again. They both turned around and froze when Tony and Peter stood just a step from the door, drinks in hand and looking like they stepped in on something they weren’t suspecting.

  
Peter had turned into a fine young man, no longer in his teens and graduating MIT in a couple of weeks, he had picked up a few traits from Tony. Clothes being one of them. Now styled in a modern suit, collar open and hairstyled to perfection he looked like a true heir to the Stark company, eyes shining with intelligence included. Steve had seen him grow up through the tv conferences, standing beside Tony like a son.

  
The incident hadn’t been big or well known. A boy in queens became orphaned when his aunt passed away with cancer. Hadn’t Steve been in contact with Fury, he wouldn’t have made the connection, when a month later it became world news that Tony Stark had adopted a teenager. Only the Avengers knowing it was also Spider-man.

  
Peter cleared his throat and stepped up them, hand out, public persona already polished and an air of maturity that Tony had been missing at that age.

  
“Captain Rogers, we are so pleased the team could make it today.” Steve shook his hand and noticed it was firm, even for super solder standard. “Sargent Barnes.”

  
When he turned his attention to Bucky, Steve let his eyes travel back to the boys’ guardian. Tony looked at Bucky, eyes unreadable, mouth set. Peter’s slightly hinted _“Pa?”_ shook him out of his own world and he slid up to Peter, left hand grabbing his son's shoulder, _in support_?, before he reached out a hand towards the man who murdered his parents.

  
“Sarge.” It was curt but the shake was long. Like they were either flirting or letting the other know they wanted to kill each other. Peter bumped his hips against his dad, jolting them both to let go.

  
They night fell quiet again, only the honks of angry taxi drives could be head.

  
“How about I go talk to Aunt Pepper how far we come with the collection and give you some privacy, hmm?” Peter had turned towards Tony and gave him a clap on the back. “I think that would be good.”

  
“Peter-“

  
“See you later, Pa. Cap, Sarge.” And he left. The boy was quick, and just before Bucky had managed to make it to the door, to follow, Peter locked the door never looking away from the soldier on the other side of the glass.

  
“That little…” Bucky started but stopped when he turned around and saw Tony’s eyebrow lift.

  
“Shit?” Tony finished, and Steve would have laughed if the situation hadn’t made him extremely uncomfortable.

  
Looking up when the silence was stretched out longer than he thought it would, he notices Tony and his best friend in a weird staring game. Bucky had the killer smirk on, the one he had when he saw a dame he liked and planned on pouncing. Tony’s body was leaning back a little, in a clear invitation to come closer, like he knew what Bucky was thinking and encouraging him to look.

  
Steve swallowed when the ideas flowed his brain, he has seen them both naked and his imagination conjured up the dirtiest dream after the other. Swallowing to regain control of his body, he shifted to hide his growing erection.

  
“Stevie, I don’t think you have formally introduced me to your friend.” He let out a sound between a groan and a moan, making the both of them turn heated eyes towards him.

“Buck…” His voice was a deep growl, something he had to press out to even make it past the lump of arousal in his voice.

“No, no, Steve why don’t you introduce me to your _friend_?” It was Tony now. Syllables smooth like the whiskey he gave Steve before, lighting fires in the super soldier’s eyes that Steve wasn’t sure he was up to dowse.

  
Coming to his senses he took a step, in front of Bucky, blocking the clear path between the two brunettes. That seemed to wake Bucky, who’s hand gripped the fabric over Steve’s back with a firm grip

.  
“Tony, is this going to end like inside?” Tony eyes were flickering between the two before he took a deep breath and with a last look at them, he stalked towards the door, calling out to Friday to unlock the door and left without another look over his shoulder.

  
“ _Damn_ , that ass.” Bucky sounded a little out of breath behind Steve, who couldn’t look behind him, because hadn’t that been a revelation that he found his best friend attractive?

  
“Yeah, a pretty ass.”

  
Bucky gave a grunt in agreement. None of them knowing if they were speaking _about_ the billionaire or his very fine behind. They didn’t care. Both were true.

•••••

It wasn’t Tony that surprised them in the kitchen at the compound a few weeks later, but Peter, now an MIT graduate. Clint grumbled, asking why there were more than two spiders in the compound, earning himself a kick from Natasha and a look from Agent Hill. The director of Avengers Initiative.

  
The young man was sitting on the counter, cheerio’s and milk in his hands happily eating. He flashed a grin towards them all when they were all gathered, before looking at Hill who signalled to everyone to settle down.

  
“Okay, team, anyone not knowing who this is?”

  
“It’s Stark’s kid, isn’t it?” Wanda was leaning back in her chair, balancing on two legs.  
“Sure is, witch.” The boy himself supplied before he took another spoon full of his breakfast.

  
Hill eyeballed Wanda before she did something impulsive like send a small bit of red mist the boy's way. God, he had even picked up Tony’s annoying abilities.

  
“Good. Peter is here because he has worked on a training simulator with the Princess of Wakanda that he wonders if we want to try out. It’s located at the bottom of Stark tower-“

  
“I thought he sold that.” Clint was danced around Natasha’s arm this time, giving her a frown.

  
“Ah, yeah. Pa bought it back when he realised moving Stark Industries would be a pain and I’ll inherit the penthouse when I turn twenty-one.” Peter spoke around the food in his mouth, making him look younger like it was a few years until he would call the place his and not months.

  
“Lucky bastard,” Wanda muttered, too low for the others to hear but Bucky and Steve sent her an irritated look.

  
Peter interrupted Hill even before she could pick up where she left by jumping off the counter and placing the bowl in the sink. Turning towards the Avengers again his boyish charm was gone from his features. What looked to be a young boy mere seconds ago was now a man who had seen more than anyone else his age.

  
“If you call someone who lost their parents, and their aunt before the age of seventeen lucky. Sure, I’m lucky.” The others were looking between Wanda and Peter, a question on their face. “But then again. I haven’t received a pardon for the crimes I have committed towards a country nor have I received a visa to stay in the same country, been given a job and a home without having to prove myself or even graduate high school. So, I guess I’m not _that_ lucky.”

  
He left the kitchen. Steve caught up with the boy when he was almost by the sportscar on the driveway. Hearing his steps, he turned around, letting Steve close the distance between them.

  
“I’m sorry for-“

  
“Not you who should apologise, cap.” And Steve let out a chuckle that Peter raised an eyebrow to. “You’re getting more and more like him every day.”

  
“Don’t let him hear you say that.” Peter had a small blush on his face, a smile playing on his lips. “He wants me to be better.”

  
Steve smiled at the honesty in Peter’s voice, young, old and young again. The man in front of him would, with his father’s guidance, be able to take over the world when it was his turn. Without thinking he clasped the younger man's shoulder and guided him towards the car.

  
“Tell your pa that I wouldn’t mind him dropping past if he so wished.”

  
“Him neither, I guess.” I Peter jutted his cheek towards Bucky who was exiting the building behind them. Steve sent him a grin before turning back.

  
“ _We_ wouldn’t mind. No.”

  
“Wouldn’t mind.” Peter parroted back before slipping into the car like it was a second nature to him by now. To own expensive cars and carrying messages to his father from super soldiers.

  
With a nod to them both, Bucky now rubbing shoulders with Steve just a step from the car looking like he the randy-car-nerd he was, Peter closed the door and drove off.

  
Bucky looked like he was about to come from the sound alone, and Steve dragged him towards his room.

•••••

They all gathered in the simulations, Peter up on a viewing balcony with the computer that would be running the training program. Hill was beside him, placed in front of the black screens that was going to show them when they were in action. With a nod, like the one he gave before speeding from the compound, Peter started the simulation, and soon Steve and the others were lost in a programmed battle for a few hours.

  
Emerging felt weird. The adrenaline was still there, mostly success made them high with endorphins, but the knowledge that it hadn’t been real was slowly sinking in making them all confused.

 

“That went better than we thought it would.”

  
Tony’s voice sounded over the arena and they all looked up to the balcony where he was leaning over Peters' shoulder, talking about something on the screen. The two had never looked more like father and son with the science expression they were both harbouring on their faces.

  
Steve’s heart jolted and he met Bucky’s eyes over the heads of the team. _Fire_.

  
Hill asked them to shower and change and then meet them up at the balcony when they all had returned neither Peter nor Tony was there. They briefed what had been good, what had been bad and what could have gone better but wasn’t a disaster. They were all pretty happy when they left the basement of the Stark Tower. The elevator opened up and let them out in the garage, they had all arrived in cars, and the team was talking about stopping at a diner on the way back. Letting them create a distance before speaking, adrenaline still running through him, he knew this was their chance.

  
“Friday?” They had Janet at the compound, and Steve was suddenly uncertain who was here.

  
“Yes, Captain Rogers?” Bucky stood just outside doors, looking at him.

  
“Where is Tony?” The AI took a second to answer, and Steve realised it was because she was talking to Tony.

  
“Sir is in the penthouse having lunch with Young Sir, he asked if you wanted to join them?”  
Turning around Bucky shouted to the others to leave a car for them, and they would join them at the compound later before he stepped into the elevator with Steve. The doors closed and the movement jolted their stomachs. Their eyes met and Bucky slowly pushed Steve against the wall, the face’s so close they breathe the same air. His hand was gripping Steve’s hips in a desperate way and a sheen in his eyes that Steve never seen him wield before.

  
Stepping back when they reached the top floor, they both inhaled before exiting to the floor Steve been in more times than he remembered. Some furniture had been moved, a table stood facing the best view of Manhattan. Tony sat at the head of it, a tablet in hand, Indian food spread out in front of him. He looked up when he heard their steps and a teasing smile spread across his face. Standing up he meet them in the middle of the floor.

“Peter sent his regards, time-sensitive project.” He put the tablet down on the bar and turned back with Bucky inches from his face.

  
He didn’t flinch, only meeting Bucky’s challenging look, leaning over, closer to Bucky’s ear, he stepped around with a hand trailing over Bucky’s chest.

  
“You’re making it very difficult for me.” [*](https://youtu.be/94SwfOmHRQ4?t=1m35s)

  
Just as he stepped around the fallen soldier, the metal arm caught him by the waist, pivoted him to face him again, effectively trapping Tony between himself and Steve, who’s chest was now solid against Tony’s back.

  
“Now doll, you’ve teased and you’ve had a chance to turn us down.” Bucky’s voice was a rough rumble, deep in his chest, making Tony gasp and lean his head against Steve’s shoulder. “Last chance to say no, handsome.”

  
The thickness of arousal hung in the silence. Steve’s hands were twitching to grab Tony’s hips and push his own into Tony’s ass. Bucky was heaving in front of him, mouth hovering millimetres from Tony’s. Tony who was looking at him dead on, not moving a muscle. Then a nod, minimal, just a movement of his head, down in acceptance and their world exploded in pleasure, moans and the breathless whispers of their names.

•••••

Bucky woke up first, or so he thought. He sneaked a hand across the mattress and found Steve’s pecks. With a grunt, he started fumbling around trying to locate the smaller male that should be occupying the bed with them. Unsuccessful, he shook off the sleep from his head and sat up, scanning the bedroom that was empty except for the bed they were sleeping on.

 

“Steve.” An answering groan to his poking. “Tony’s gone.”

  
The other soldier sat up and was out the bed before Bucky reacted. Together they dressed faster than they ever done before they rushed out to find the woman in charge of the company, at the same place they had found Tony in yesterday.

  
“Pepper?” She turned around at the sound of her name from Steve.

  
“Captain Rogers. Did Tony invite you to stay the night?” Her voice was in a professional pitch, the same she used for reporters Steve noticed, and she looked like she knew they’d been here all along.

  
“Yes, kind of.” Steve scratched his neck, looking over to Bucky who was taking in everything in the large room. “Where is he?”

  
“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” And she sweetness in her voice made Steve feel sick like she was playing a game they didn’t know they participated in. “He and Peter moved to London this morning, they’re establishing the company overseas. In a year Peter will lead the UK side before he’ll take over after me. Tony will then go to Sydney and set up the company there. That’s why everything is packed up here. If you excuse me, I have a meeting in a few minutes, you know your way out?”

  
Her eyes betrayed her. They had hardened when she spoke like she knew she caused them pain and thrived in it. With a nod and a smile cutting through them like a knife, she moved towards the elevator, heels loud in the emptiness of the apartment. The emptiness in their hearts.

  
Just as she passed Bucky he grabbed her wrist, still looking straight forward like he would do something bad if he looked at her.

  
“Sargent?” Peppers voice was a pitch too high to be classified as calm, a civilian wouldn’t notice, Bucky did.

 

  
“Why?” His voice was strong, hard like his steal arm, empty.

  
Pepper turned her wrist free from his grip, took one last look at them before continuing her way towards her meeting. Just before the doors closed behind her she turned, eyes _burning_.

  
“ _Siberia_.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, sorry, sorry.
> 
> Song inspiration: [Too Good at Goodbye](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ub7Etch2U)  
> And that one line inspiration from [Call me by your Name](https://youtu.be/94SwfOmHRQ4?t=1m35s)
> 
> Love that movie! <3
> 
> •••••
> 
> Have no defences for this one, Sorry


End file.
